


Blame It On The Cat

by BadAyka



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-21
Updated: 2016-02-21
Packaged: 2018-05-22 11:58:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6078495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BadAyka/pseuds/BadAyka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>First Year college student Rey has a peculiar run-in with Finn, a Second Year working student living on campus. Throw in a very sexually frustrating TF and his adorable cat, and you have a recipe for either a happy ending or an epic disaster.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Blame It On The Cat

**Author's Note:**

> Not my first jump into fanfic waters, but the first one I actually published. I hope this won't leave anyone thinking reading till the end was a waste of time.
> 
> Localization is a bit here and there, the college will be a fusion of the American system, European system and shit I made up for convenience's sake. There will be typos, there will be misspellings, there will be stuff that won't sound quite right, 'cause I'm not a native speaker. I hope I do not bring dishonor on my family, myself and/or my cow. The rating might/will most probably also change.
> 
> I'd appreciate any critique, positive or not. As for frequency of new content: don't have too high hopes, full-time job + night school are the murderers of time and inspiration. 
> 
> You can also find me on Tumblr

Rey was passing the main quad of the campus, when suddenly something pudgy but fast ran out of some bushes to the right of the building she was walking towards. The tri-colored bundle was zig-zagging towards her with impressive speed given its rather plump stature. As it reached the midway point between the brush and Rey, another figure immerged from the same greenery.

This time a man wearing an all-white cafeteria uniform, a little sweaty and very out of breath, clambered out of the shrubbery, leaving it in a desecrated state as much of its leaves and branches were now part of the man’s ensemble. He stood up, looked around and scanned his surroundings with focus and fervor, and as his eyes locked onto his target, they lit up. He began running after what Rey now recognized was a white, orange and black cat that was about to reach her in a few moments.

Rey tried moving to one side, then the other, but the feline seemed intent on ending its run in a collision with Rey’s legs. The freshman braced for impact – as much bracing as one might do when in danger of being hit in the legs by something round, soft and furry – bent her knees just a little, hoping that would somehow lessen the blow and stood still in anticipation.

But cat-like reflexes are a phraseme for a good reason, which the bundle of hair proved by jolting to the side and slinking past Rey’s shins by mere centimeters. Swiftly it jumped up and behind a low stone wall running along the main path that cut across the center of the quad and seemingly disappeared.

Rey, having watched the feline retreat into stony cover, turned her attention towards the approaching man, who was trying to rid himself of what looked like half of the bush he crawled out of while still chasing after the poor frightened creature running away from him.

“Ho-hhh, …” he wheezed, “hold that cat.” With an arm clutched to his chest he had reached Rey and was about to pass her, when she decided to move a step to her left, positioning herself directly in front of him, effectively blocking his path and view of where the tri-colored mouser had run off to.

“What— get out of—”

“You know, it’s one thing _not_ to be a cat person, but chasing it all around campus for whatever sadistic reason you have is just sick.” Rey, with her hands on her hips, puffed up her chest and leaned in closer, right into the man’s private bubble, trying to seem imposing despite him having a good two inches and several stone on her.

“What? NO _,_ no, _no_ , nonono, nooooo,” he tried – rather ineffectively – clearing the air and easing the tension. “That’s my cat. The only reason I’m chasing her is that she’s my little kitten. I stupidly left my front door open and she split, the little rascal.” He laughed it off while trying to somehow look past an unwavering Rey. “She’s a strictly indoor cat, I’m afraid she’s gonna get hurt if I lose her.”

A hiss from behind Rey’s back destroyed the little sliver of chance the man might have had of Rey believing him. As she turned her head to the left, making sure to keep one eye on the stranger, she could see the cat in the peripheral vision of the other. The formerly fluffy bundle of super-speed was stood atop the stone wall, looking like gravity suddenly reverted and the only thing keeping it from floating away were its claws buried into the concrete below its feet. With its back arched, claws out, legs disproportionally long, hair along its back and entire tail standing upright, its body language screamed everything else but ‘loving owner in sight’.

“Uh-uh,” was all Rey had to say to that. She squinted her eyes and looked back at the stranger. He pressed his lips together and furrowed his brows, looking accusatory at the feline, who simply growled in response.

“Let me tell you what’s going to happen now. You’re going to turn around, go back to whatever part of the campus you came from, lock yourself in your room, lie down on your bed, look at the poster of the Omen you probably have plastered on your ceiling and think very hard about why you’re doing what you’re doing, why it’s wrong and how you’ll never even think about doing it again. Because if you don’t, I’ll call campus security and the ASPCA right now, and I’m pretty sure you know that’s not going to end well for you.” Rey pulled her mobile out of her pocket to emphasize her point.

Stunned by her intensity the man stood completely still for a few moments, but when he saw her thumb slide right, he put his hands up and began furiously gesticulating while trying to explain and hopefully diffuse the situation.

“No, please, ok, I admit it, it’s not my cat. But I’m not trying to hurt her or anything, I swear. If anything, I’m trying to help her, she just won’t let me.” Rey raised a doubting eyebrow. “It’s true, I can prove it!”

He pulled a crumpled up piece of paper out of his pocket, opened it up and quickly tried straightening it by putting it on his thigh and rubbing over it. He lifted the sheet and pressed it almost onto Rey’s face. She jolted back, bringing what was on it into focus.

The upper two thirds of the page were covered by a black and white photo of the feline still hissing behind her. Below it the word ‘missing’ was printed in a large font, followed by a detailed description of the missing pet’s appearance and a plea from its owner for any information. The footer of the page contained a phone number and an address.

The resemblance between the picture and the real deal was uncanny, which for a cat might not have said much, but this particular specimen was one of the more peculiar looking breeds Rey had ever encountered. “Exotic shorthair, huh?” she read from the flyer and turned toward the hairball. The same enormous black eyes, its face an almost perfect circle, a dopey look and markings identical to the photo. The only thing lacking was her collar, which in the photo was of an undefinable hue, but had a small round tag attached to it.

“So, you’re Beebee then?” she turned toward the kitten, who mrowed in response. Rey started to slowly move toward the feline, extending a hand towards it to allow for a cautionary sniff. Beebee inspected Rey’s palm diligently and began to relax, seemingly forgetting about the man chasing her mere moments before, before pressing the top side of her head towards Rey’s palm, demanding to be petted. Rey smiled and began stroking the hairball, head to tail, with an emphasis on that part just before the beginning on the tail that always made cats happiest. The man coughed awkwardly, reminding Rey that he was still there.

“So now that you know I’m not lying, can I get the cat? I’m only taking her back to her owner, I swear.” Beebee growled as if she understood he wanted to take her with him.

“I don’t think you’ll be able to, she doesn’t seem to like you very much.” The cat emphasized Rey’s point with a little hiss. “Why don’t you just call the owner and make him come pick her up?”

“NO, I really _need_ to take her there. Personally. To the house. It’s really important I do that.” Rey stared at him, stone-faced and unmoving. The man let his head fall towards his chest and exhaled in exasperation. “You know Mr. Dameron?” Rey shook her head. The man scratched his head shyly. “Ah, he’s, uhm— he’s a TF for one of my classes, lives on campus and that’s his cat.”

Beebee was beginning to climb up Rey, who scooped her up into her arms, allowing her to rest her head in the crook of Rey’s neck. “So you’re trying to score a favor or blackmail a better grade out of your TF in exchange for his pet? You disgust me.”

“What— NO, nothing like that,” he said with a look of genuine distaste on his face. “You really jump to some dark places, you know? I just want to get his cat back to him, no favors, no blackmail, I just wanna return it to her owner who loves her very, _very_ much and has been agonizing over her disappearance for the past few days.” He put his right hand on his chest above his heart and lifted the left one in the air, somehow combining the poses for the pledge of allegiance and a swearing in ceremony. “I promise.”

Rey squinted her eyes and studied the man’s face for a few agonizing seconds. He seemed sincere enough, now that he actually owned up to what he was doing and he had the flyer to back up his story. She scratched Beebee behind the ears, making the feline raise her head and look at Rey, mewing sweetly.

“Did you get lost or did you run away, I wonder?” The cat seemed to be in wonderful shape, with a shiny coat and even plumper than necessary. “Alright,” Rey decided, “she needs to get back home.”

“Yes!” The man fist-pumped once in celebration and extended his arms towards Rey in hopes of taking the Beebee himself. The feline protested with a violent hiss and clambered deeper into Rey’s embrace. The man’s face fell when he realized his plan wasn’t going to work, at least not in the way he imagined it to. He reached into his jacket pocket again, pulling out the leaflet from before, folded it so the address at the bottom was easier to see and handed it to Rey.

“This is her home address. It’s one of the houses in the north faculty staff housing block. Look for Mr. Poe Dameron.” He pushed the paper into Rey’s hand, smiled weakly and turned to walk back the way he came from. Rey looked at the crumpled up flyer, then at the sad sag of the defeated man’s back.

“Wait,” she called after him. He stopped and looked at her. “Look, your methods might have been a bit extreme, but you _were_ the one who found her, right? It’s only right Mr. Dameron knew what you’ve done, even if Beebee won’t let you touch her.”

“And what do you suggest I do then?”

“I’ll come with you. Or you’ll come with me. Whatever, we’ll go together, ok? You can tell the owner how and where you’ve found her and I’ll just hand her over. Everyone’s a winner, yeah?” She tried to smile encouragingly, but immediately realized there was no need. The man had already moved in front of her, grabbed her by the hand and began shaking it furiously, as his face lit up with a smile of a thousand volts.

“Thanks, you’ve gotta be the nicest person I’ve met on this campus. I’m Finn by the way, really lovely meeting you.”

“Rey,” she answered. When her eyes met Finn’s – squinted from excess joy, but oh so animated – she felt a little pang in her chest. _‘Oh no,’_ she thought. But before her thoughts could wander down the path they were set upon, Finn transitioned his hand _shake_ into a hand _hold_ and began walking towards the northern part of the campus, pulling Rey with cat in tow behind him.

When Rey realized what was happening a few steps into the walk, she quickly untangled her hand. “Did I in any way insinuate it was alright to hold my hand? Because I’m still not completely convinced you’re not some kind of cat tormentor, and I generally prefer not to hold hands with cat tormentors.”

“Ah, yeah, sorry, force of habit, I’m a bit _touchy,_ or so my roommates say.” He spread his hands palms up in front of him and shrugged, but continued walking. Rey, disliking the feeling of looking like she was following him – despite it being true – quickened her pace until she fell in step with Finn to her right.

Starting their way diagonally across the campus’ enormous main quad, they were weaving their path past other students, some so entrenched in their last minute studying they barely registered what was going on around them, some simply lazing about under the influence in the still warm sun of early autumn, taking advantage of a class-less afternoon.

Most were however simply on their way to or from classes and seeing a cat on campus was the highlight of their day, which made Rey, Finn and Beebee’s journey towards the latter’s caretaker’s place more a slalom, where tired college students with a desire to “ _oooooooh, look at the little kitty, I wanna pet the kitty”_ were the poles. Or maybe a football allegory would have been more fitting, what with Rey holding the kitten in one hand, closely to her chest, as she pushed people away with the other, rotating around so her back was always towards the defenders as she was trying to advance down the field – not looking for a literal touchdown, of course.

Finn was trying his best to keep the mob at bay himself, circling around Rey like a satellite, and unsuccessfully trying to convince the other students they _really_ didn’t want to pet the kitty. “No, you can’t touch her, she doesn’t like it. No, don’t, she’s got rabies! She’s been rolling around in other cats’ poop all day, you really don’t want to touch that.” But when he realized his arguments fell onto deaf ears, he threw caution and Rey’s previous no-touchy comment to the wind, grabbed her by the hand once more and yanked her out of the group of people surrounding her and towards the library.

Rey was too relieved to be out of the mass of people to complain, and allowed Finn to lead her. As they ascended the steps to the main entrance of the library and Finn let go of her hand, she realized where they were headed and was about to protest. The library barely allowed the university students bringing in a bottle of water, let alone a live animal! But as she opened her mouth Finn’s jacket hit her straight in the face. “Cover her,” he said, maneuvering her past himself and through the doors.

Rey threw the jacket onto the poor cat, bundled her up like a loaf of bread, apologized about three times while doing it and entered the library with Finn right behind her. The angry mob was still on their heels, exclaiming their wish to _pet the kitty_ loudly. Exactly to Finn’s plan. If there was one thing on this campus one could always rely on, it was the stereotypical need for silence enforced by their stern-faced resident librarian, Mr. Erickson.

The three fugitives were not five feet from the entrance, when several students burst in, still whining about not being able to touch the feline. But Mr. Erickson, constantly vigilant for any disturbances that might endanger the library’s tranquility, directed his two in-house bouncers on stand-by with a flick of his wrist, and the mob was immediately detained and shuffled out from whence they came.

While the attention was will on other people, Finn pushed Rey gently forward, “Don’t run, but walk fast. A brisk tempo, but keep one of your feet always on the ground, we gotta get out of here before they circle around.” Rey glanced to her right to see the librarian still focusing on the main entrance and did as Finn suggested. They fast-walked past close to a hundred rows of bookshelves and several dozen students towards the unassisted back entrance of the building.

Finn fumbled with his wallet – an old, worn-out dark leather piece with his name embossed on it in a large font that took up more than half of the front side, which made Rey snort – pulled out his student ID, ran it past the scanner and opened the door. They both slipped through to the outside and quickly looked around. Rey bolted for a nearby set of bushes, with Finn right on her heels, and they sat down just as a good ten people turned the corner toward the back entrance.

“I’ve had enough of these damn bushes for a lifetime,” whispered Finn, but Rey shushed him by putting her free hand over his mouth.

The mob waited and looked around the entrance for a good few minutes, after which it dissipated, one disappointed student at a time, until none remained.

“You can take your hand away now,” muffled Finn under Ray’s palm, “I’m pretty sure they’re all gone by now.”

Rey looked at him horrified and let go of his face immediately, then checked whether the kitten was all right. To her surprise, the fur ball was comfortably nestled inside the bunched up jacket, purring quietly while seemingly asleep.

Finn stood up and pushed the brush away, allowing Rey to follow him back onto the pavement weaving its way toward the northern part of the campus.

“Beebee seems comfortable enough. I’m going out on a limb here, but I think it’s better people think we’re smuggling booze inside that drum-shaped jacket than a live cat. At least they won’t try to pet a bottle of vodka.”

“Unless they’re already drunk.”

“In which case we’re screwed anyhow. Onward!” He pointed north and began walking again, and Rey followed.

“So how far till the TF’s place?” she asked while secretly scratching Beebee behind her tiny ears.

“He lives just at the edge of the northern faculty staff housing blocks,” he explained, expecting it to be enough information to calculate a guess. Sadly, with Rey being fairly new to the campus, the information meant less than little to her.

“Which is how far exactly?”

Finn looked at her with a quizzical look, which, after a moment’s thought, turned into recognition and finally a knowing smirk. “A freshman, are we?” he asked with a hint of glee in his voice.

“First Year, but yes,” she answered, unsure how her year influenced his change of tone.

“You live on-campus then?”

She nodded. “Even if I wanted to live off-campus they don’t allow it in your first year. But I prefer living in a dorm in any case.”

“Really? I’d do anything to live on my own. Room-wise at least. I don’t mind sharing a kitchen and bath, but man I miss personal space. And the whole bunk bed situation isn’t doing it for me either. I’d just like a nice little room with a king-sized bed, a desk that’s not pushed between two bunks and, oh! A nightstand that I can actually reach.” He looked off into the distance, a dreamy look in his eyes. “You know how you know you’ve made it? When you got a nightstand at the same height as your bed!”

Rey chuckled. “Why not move then? I guess you’re not a First Year, there’s loads of places off-campus that take in students. Or you could apply for a single room if you’d still like to stay inside uni grounds.”

Fin pressed his lips together and shook his head. “Too expensive. I’m here on a scholarship, which barely covers all of my living expenses. Can’t afford to live somewhere else without adding a load of work to my schedule. And I don’t see myself keeping my grades high enough to retain my scholarship if I’m also working that much. It’s a curse, it’s a blessing. So for now, I’m just gonna have to keep my sweets under lock and key.”

Rey raised an eyebrow at him. “That’s a thing? Roommates stealing your chocolate and cookies?”

“Roommate, singular. And you think I’m joking, but it’s an actual problem! Slip keeps _misplacing_ ,” he air-quoted the last word, “his own stash. Now usually that’s not a problem, but then he just gets these cravings and I swear he can sniff out _anything_ we have in the room. Last time I hid my stuff. Like, properly, a few bars of chocolate inside a zip-lock bag, inside a towel, inside a box, below a shit-ton of winter clothes at the bottom of my dresser. Safe, secure. Or so I thought.” He paused dramatically.

“One day I get back from some late afternoon classes and there was Slip, his shirt brown from the pieces of chocolate that fell on his chest and melted, wrappers of my delicious Hershey’s with whole almonds all over his bed and him lying amidst them, basically in a sweet food coma, still chewing on the last pip. That stash was supposed to last me a month!

“First thing I did the next day was go into the second hand shop in the city, bought one of those cheap but unbreakable boxes with a lock, brought it back home, put it on my desk and locked the new sweets I bought that day inside in front of all my roommates’ eyes. Now Slip can’t get to my stuff anymore, but Nines keeps calling me a traitor, ‘cause he’s now going for his and Zeroes’ stockpile.”

“Such drama,” quipped Rey, eliciting a grin out of her pet-saving companion. “Three roommates though, that’s gotta be … animated.”

“That’s a very polite way of describing it, but yes. Your roommates not driving you crazy?”

“No, she’s off at her boyfriend’s place 99% of the time, so I barely see her and when I do she’s usually just leaving or only popping in for a change of clothes.”

“Ooooh, that’s great, you can have people over at your place whenever you want to then. That’s gotta be sweet. We have to coordinate everything in our room. It was especially awful last year. Zeroes had a girlfriend, they were both living in the cheap four-bed dorm rooms, so he had to ask us politely if we could _vacate the premises_ every time they wanted to … well, you know. It felt like he was asking permission, it made us as uncomfortable as him and we really didn’t need to know exactly when they were doing it. And sometimes he didn’t tell us he’d be needing the room, ‘cause he thought we were all definitely going to be in class at the time.” Finn shivered. “Thank god it didn’t last.” He fell silent for a few heartbeats, having a small PTSD flashback, before coming back to the present.

“Anyways,” he changed the subjects, “you’re throwing mad parties for your friends at your place then, huh?”

Rey averted her eyes and looked at her moving feet. “Ah, no, not really. I don’t know anyone yet, not enough to invite them over anyways.”

Finn furrowed his eyebrows. “It’s November, you had to have made a few acquaintances.”

“I uhm – I only arrived last week. I was late because of some … reasons and now I’m still catching up on coursework. And everybody else sort of already has their own group so … I haven’t gotten around to making friends yet.” She shrugged weakly.

Finn clutched his chest. “Oh no, don’t do that, you’re breaking my heart. What major are you, which classes are you taking, do you need any help with any of them? I can help you with a few probably, maybe give you my notes if we overlap? I’ve still got most of my stuff from last year, I don’t mind giving it to you. We can go for coffee too, if you drink it of course. Or tea. Hot chocolate? Pumpkin spice season has started and everyone is addicted to it, I haven’t had any myself yet, it’s probably worth a try.”

Finn’s babbling was only interrupted by the sound of Rey’s laughter. He looked at her, closed his mouth and smiled sheepishly.

“Sorry.”

“No, no, it’s awesome. I’d like that. Coffee is great by the way. And I’m not going to say no to any notes you might want to throw my way either. Thank you.” She grinned again, squinting, and as she opened her eyes up again she glanced to the right. “I think we’re here.”

Finn followed her gaze and noticed they had arrived at a row of different colored but structurally identical small two-story brick houses. Had they not had about a meter and a half of spare room between the outer walls and the edge of the lot, they could have easily been considered row houses. In front of each was a smidgen of a lawn or garden, from which dark metal stairs and railings led about half a story up, to the small porch and front door. The brick of the walls was a brownish-yellowy shade. Above the tall dark windows were smaller white decorative arches. Overall the houses looked like someone had tried marrying the traditional row house style with more modern influences. Sadly that relationship seemed to have been abusive on both parts, as the resulting offspring were a grotesque mix of the worst qualities of two genitors who just couldn’t get along.

Rey, who had just before unraveled Beebee from her textile cocoon, mock-whispered in the kitten’s ear: “No wonder you decided to run away.” She looked to her left, where Finn was trying to dry his obviously clammy hands in his pants.

“Right, let’s get you home,” he said to Beebee and bopped her nose, to which she hissed.

The two cat rescuers climbed the stairs and stepped in front of the main entrance. Finn took a last deep breath and pressed the doorbell. Nothing happened. After about a minute, he tried again. Still no answer. He knocked on the door while Rey tried looking through one of the windows. The curtains were open, but there was no movement as far as she could tell.

“I don’t think he’s home.”

Finn visibly deflated and put his hands into his pockets. In a sudden moment of revelation he pulled out the crumpled up flyer. “Right, I can just call him and tell him we have his cat.”

He was punching in the number when a distant sound of a motorcycle rumbling started getting closer and louder. He raised his head in the direction the sound was coming from and Rey followed. A motorcyclist stopped his bike in front of the house and suddenly the world began to move in slow-motion.

The driver lowered the kickstand and slowly dismounted, his jeans stretching in all the right places from the motion. Finn inhaled. The driver pulled off his gloves one by one, stuffed them into his pockets and unzipped his well-worn brown leather jacket, revealing a plain black shirt with a stretched out collar beneath, allowing for a glimpse of collarbone and a hint of chest hair. Rey could hear Finn swallowing. He finally unbuckled his helmet and pulled it off. As he shook his head trying to rid himself of helmet-hair, fine drops of sweat fell off his almost black unruly curls. He brushed a hand through his hair, his biceps stretching the fabric of the old shirt sleeve. Rey’s mouth went a little dry.

He finally raised his head and looked – _lustfully_ , thought Rey – at the two visitors standing on his porch. At the sight of Rey’s armful, his seductive smile and sultry look morphed into a face of recognition and finally into a grimace of relief/sadness/happiness, like he wasn’t sure which one to feel first. ‘ _Oh no’_ , Rey thought, for a second time that day. He put his helmet on the motorcycle seat and sprinted towards his pet.

“Beebee, oh Beebee, where have you been?” He stretched out his arms towards the kitten, who happily jumped out of Rey’s hands and into his embrace. After a minute of hugging, stroking and many terms of endearment, the man finally acknowledged the rescuers.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude, but I’ve been worried sick this past week, I can’t believe you’ve found her.” He was talking to Rey.

“Actually,” she pointed at her partner, “Finn’s the one who found her, I was just passer-by.”

“She wouldn’t let me get close to her, but thankfully Rey was there and could actually touch her and pick her up. So we brought her here immediately, I hope that’s ok, we don’t want to impose or anything, maybe you would have preferred us calling first and you picking her up yourself, you’re a TF after all, maybe you don’t want to be disturbed.” Finn was babbling again.

Poe squinted at him, then snapped his fingers in recognition. “You’re in my Classical Mechanics class, right? Finn, uhm …” He was trying to remember his surname.

“Finn Dameron,” Finn whispered, his eyes transfixed on the man before him. Rey, having heard it, snorted. Horrified, Finn looked at her, then at the TF, hoping he hadn’t understood what Finn has said as well.

“Sorry?” asked Poe.

Relieved, Finn exhaled. “Nothing sir. I’m just glad Beebee’s back with her loving owner, even if she’s not too keen on me.”

“Oh, don’t take it personally kid. She’s got a thing against people wearing white. I’m pretty sure the animal control officers who scooped her up and brought her to the pound were wearing white, or something like that. She’s not too keen on gray or beige either.” He scratched her behind the ears. “Or maybe she’s just a really easily offended fashionista.”

Finn looked at his all-white kitchen help ensemble. “Ah, right, I’ll keep that in mind.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, how did she run away in the first place?” asked Rey.

“It was my fault, really. The students like to get a bit rowdy at times, you both know how it is. Parties, drinking and all the stupid stuff you do.” Finn feigned innocence, whereas Rey’s denial was genuine. Poe, believing neither of them, snorted. “Anyways, I tend to keep Beebee inside at all times, especially once classes are over, but one day I was moving some furniture outside and I left the door open for a bit too long and she snuck out. At the same time a parade of fantastically hammered frat boys made its way down our street and they probably scared her off. I had to deal with the knuckleheads, so I didn’t notice she was gone till hours later.” He made a face like he forgot something. “Don’t tell anyone I called them knuckleheads.” The two students grinned. “Anyways, by the time I got back here she was long gone, I searched for hours and couldn’t find her. I put up the flyers the very next day and continued searching. I actually just came from one of the shelters, I wanted to make sure she wasn’t there.”

Rey nodded, relieved Beebee really wasn’t running away from an awful home. “Well, I think we’re done then. The cat is back with her owner, now everyone’s happy. I think I’ll head back to my dorm now.”

“Oh no wait, I have to give you a reward, it’s the least I can do.”

Finn and Rey both raised their hands in front of their chests. “No, no, I really don’t –”

“There’s no need –”

They looked at one another. “We’re just glad Beebee’s home, we don’t need money.”

Poe stopped unlocking his door. “But I can’t let you leave without compensation.”

Rey glanced at Finn, then, with a smirk and gleam in her eyes, turned back towards the TF. “Actually, I feel like we’ve bonded through this whole ordeal, would you mind it terribly if we came over to visit Beebee every once in a while? We could also pet-sit her if you ever needed to go somewhere.” Finn looked at the First Year, impressed.

The man looked at the both of them, thought about it and nodded. “Alright. Deal. But also, if you ever need any help, be it tutoring or anything college related, you can come to me. I’ll probably be able to help. Nothing illegal though!”

“Deal.” All three shook hands, Rey petted Beebee one final time, Finn waved at the kitten, who replied with yet another hiss. “Yeah, I get it, no uniform next time, I promise.”

The two students descended the stairs, stepped on the curb, waved at the happy cat owner plus cat one final time and started back towards their respective dorms.

Once they were well out of Poe’s earshot Finn exhaled a breath he seemed to have been holding since they arrived at the TF’s house. “Oooooh, I don’t know if I’d rather _be_ him or _fuck_ him.”

Rey glanced at him with her peripheral vision. “I do.”

“Yeah, I do to.” He let his head drop to his chest. “You’re a genius though. Like, that thing with visiting Beebee. Pure genius. You’re like the Einstein of making stuff that I never dreamed would be possible, possible.”

“That’s …  a very specific type of genius, but I’ll take it.” They grinned at one another.

After a couple of minutes of walking in comfortable, for unknown reasons tired silence, Finn asked the pressing question: “So … when’s our first visit?”

**Author's Note:**

> One down, god only knows how many more to go.
> 
> Woo~~


End file.
